Broughton Allotment & Leisure Gardeners Association

Stratification

In botany, 'stratification' is sometimes required to kickstart germination.

Sometimes it is a simple matter of just storing something in the fridge for a given duration;

- Seeds in a prepared seed bed kept at a low temperature for a time will experience a kind of Winter,

...after this they more readily grow.

If it's a little more complicated and especially if you're keeping track of multiple seed types & dates in a number of containers each with their respective methods, these templates are for you.

e.g.

A number of seeds are to be repeatedly soaked in 'hand hot' water over four days,

then the recommendation is for 60-90 days in the fridge, which is a broad range so you may decide to have a seed each for every 6/7 days from day 60 until the full 90 day period is reached.

Then, by including additional details for immediately following stages like the temperature for planting out and duration of hardening off period, the information is always found where you are when handling the seeds at that stage in the stratification process.

- So while the details can only ever be handwritten based on the start date*, and experience may lead you to aim for something closer to a fortnight and just have three seed batches [for days 60, 75 & 90] - but to have a template upon which to clearly mark & check dates is a valuable reassurance when there's even just one other plant you're also tracking in this way - then you can use just one container and it will convey all the required instructions without having to have the seed packet to hand each time - that means you can more readily trade any remaining seeds sooner too.

Essentially, a page of labels like this can now be downloaded to better organise & ease your efforts:

Just let me know if you have a specific layout in mind and you want it creating.

*What is vitally important in any event, is that you are able to calculate the date 'x' number of days from now or from the end of a stage,

for that matter the internet is easiest & most useful if you have easy access - visit "timeanddate.com". There are apps along these lines to, easy to find and choose from.

The templates are based on an A4 sheet with 5mm[ish] margins, please check this setting in printer/page setup before committing to a print run ['scale to fit page' is usually the simplest way to ensure the output fits to a sheet - but larger margins will further reduce label size, so definitely choose a high dpi for the smaller labels].

- the implicit aim being to cut them out yourself after choosing best size for items to be labelled

- i.e. do not get pre-scored sheets [these might require aligning to avoid printing across edges due to e.g. different margin sizes], the label size is simply A4, the print output is what you will manually divide the sheet up into.

...and you do not strictly need sticky label sheets - plain copier paper affixed with sticky tape should do the job.

- On the other hand, printing a wipe-clean label for repeated use year after year may be worth the initial extra expense in the long run...

Nor do they need to be stuck to the container, a handy clipboard near to where they are being stored may contain all the information for multiple seed types with many staggered dates, some labels are therefore featuring indices for up to six seed types.

Of course, the labels need not be printed, just writing on by hand will

suffice for a low quantity of containers, so the information presented

here is at least useful as what you will need to know when you are

there and perhaps the seed packet isn't.

Obviously the larger the size, the easier it is to write on and make

any additional notes, what I've tried to do is provide the comprehensive

label for all methods, where just writing a strikethrough will cancel a step and a

tick through will tell you it's already done.

...Pick the size that suits the

container &/or quantity of seeds

you will use, note there's an

option where Landscape

alternatives are available so

read the dimensions other way

around for landscape.

The page it takes you to for the file may have print options, the main thing is that you can continually access it by downloading, what is sometimes called 'Save Target As'.

- Click to open the location and select download/print, selecting for preferred file type [.html to print from browser, .jpg for image editor, .doc (MSWord icon) is for document editor, or as a PDF opening in Acrobat Reader] and it will take you to the right one. Once downloaded it will open with the default program.

A4, 205x292mm after margins:

divides into,

For small containers [up to e.g. portion size takeaway meal tubs]

24x

68x36mm

16x

102x36mm

205x36mm

21x

68x41mm

14x

102x41mm

205x41mm

18x

68x48mm

12x

102x48mm

205x48mm

15x

68x58mm

10x

102x58mm

205x58mm

12x

68x73mm

102x73mm

205x73mm

< Landscape

68x97mm

102x97mm

205x97mm

< Landscape

For medium containers [lunchbox size]

68x146mm

102x146mm

205x146mm

< Landscape

For large containers [>5l storage boxes]

68x292mm

102x292mm

1x 205x292mm

< Landscape

... & here's a quick idea for converting a 5l container using it's side to make shelves with bamboo, screws & twist ties to hold it all together and use in the fridge, the label shown affixed to the container but an even larger one could be stuck to the inside of the fridge [providing in this case, that you're right handed ] :)

Please let me know if there's any issue, or feedback with suggestions for this page and the associated resources.

Kind regards

Christian

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